Air travel surges through holiday weekend

• The airport has struggled with fuel and staffing shortages as demand for air travel rises and Austin's population booms.

By the numbers: More than 33,000 Austin passengers were screened through TSA on Friday to kick off the holiday weekend, and a total of 118,598 passengers were screened from Friday to Monday, according to airport officials.

• Nineteen flights were canceled throughout the weekend, but overall, the airport "was prepared for Fourth of July travel volumes," a spokesperson told Axios.
• Airport officials do not yet have data on the number of flight delays over the weekend.
• There were 1,083 total scheduled flights between Friday and Monday.

Zoom out: Across the country, the air travel system has been struggling with staffing shortages and other issues, making the past few days a big test for airlines, airports and the Federal Aviation Administration, writes Axios' Alex Fitzpatrick.

The backstory: Some airlines took extraordinary preemptive measures to manage demand.

• Delta issued an unusual waiver that made it easier for people to rebook their July 4 travel to less busy days.
• American struggled with a system error that led to pilot and crew staffing shortages for thousands of planned July flights, though the airline says it fixed the problem with minimal schedule disruption.